The Life of Sophia Leslie Burke
by a-unique-storm
Summary: The Life of Sophia Leslie Burke, a female take on Bridge to Terabithia. All we know about Leslie comes from what Jess knew about Leslie.
1. Sophia Leslie Burke

**Disclaimer:**The storyline belongs to Katherine Paterson, everything that seems familiar, is familiar, taken from the book Bridge to Terabithia.

_A/N: Well, after reading as many fanfics as I can, and after re-reading Bridge to Terabithia, I've realized all we really know about Leslie, is what Jess knows about Leslie. The book by Katherine Paterson is based on the life and emotions of Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr. not Leslie Burke. The name Sophia Leslie Burke comes from one of Emily MacDonald's stories. Although, Sophia is her first name, not middle name._

**_The Life of Sophia Leslie Burke, A female take on Bridge to Terabithia_**

**Sophia Leslie Burke**

Amid a throng of students, one young girl definitely seemed out of place. Everything from her short blond hair to the hem of her pants, all was unwelcome. Her blond hair glinted in the sunlight as she cautiously followed her mother and father into the small, rugged school. "Bill, Judy, wait!" the girl called, now holding back. Her mother seemed to detect the desperation in her daughter's voice, "It's everyone else's first day too Les."

"Yeah, but they've probably all known each other since kindergarten," the blond tugged on her mother's arm, "I don't want to go in there Judy!" The trio had come to the principal's office. Her father opened the faded oak door. "The doors were new in Arlington," she whispered grumpily to her mother. "Shh."

"Ah, hello Mr..Burke!" A bald man appeared from behind the desk.

"Please, Bill," her father said, grinning, "I've always wanted to use that line."

"Alright, Bill. And this must be your lovely Sophia!" _This man is too cheerful_, the girl thought.

"Leslie," she growled.

"Okay Leslie, let's show you to you classroom if you parents don't have anymore to say?"

"We'll met you after school Les!" She and the man walked in complete silence. Two rights, a left, and then another right. The man pulled her to a stop in front of a door that said **Myers**. _I don't like the sound of that name_, the girl mused. The man opened the door. "Oh hello Principal Turner," an evil looking teacher said, surprised. "Hello class. I'd like you to meet your new classmate..." _Ok, Sophia Leslie Burke, todays the first day of the rest of your life, make the most of I_. "...Leslie Burke." Leslie stared around the room, then back at Mr. Turner, "Thanks," she said, a little too cheerfully. "Well Leslie, you'll have to sit at my desk until we can find a place to," she glanced at the already crowded classroom, "squeeze you in." Mrs. Myers placed a chair at the end of her desk; Leslie began to walk over to it; shifting the weight of her messenger style bag as she walked. Almost ten books toppled out of it. She quickly shoved them all back inside, heaving the bag onto her lap, she sat down and looked up nervously at the class. A sad looking boy in the third row was staring at her, she looked at him, then he quickly looked away.


	2. The Fastest Kid in the Fifth Grade

_AN: Thanks for your reviews Emily, G-Matt, and MadTom. I really enjoyed the positive response, you could say I've been feeling author concious at the moment. There are so many wonderful BtT fanfics and I didn't think any of mine would measure up. Pretty stupid thought though. Anyway, let the story begin. Oops, forgot to mention that yes, I know the chapters are short, but I'll hopefully be updating very frequently. _

_-Breezy_

**The Fastest Kid In The Fifth Grade**

Leslie was feeling bored. Watching the girls play hopscotch was not one of her favourite pass-times. She was sitting on a fallen log outside of Lark Creek Elementary School. Leslie looked over to where a group of boys were huddled in a group talking. She ran over to listen in and maybe talk to that boy that was staring at her earlier. "Everyone in a line!" a boy barked. Everyone did what he said. _Funny how they do everything he says. I bet if he told them to jump off a bridge they would,_ Leslie thought as she lined-up behind the staring boy. "Hey, what's this big race about?" Leslie asked him.

"Hu, wha..?"

"The race, duh."

"Oh. It's just a race."

"_Just_ a race? What's the big deal then?" Leslie asked.

"Hey! New girl!" the big guy yelled, Leslie didn't even twitch, "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Leslie turned her head, looking amused, "This race is only for guys!"

"What'sa matter Hoager, 'fraid a girl's gonna beatcha?" The boy said. _Yeah, he is. You wanna see me run, you're gonna see me fly_, Leslie said to herself. That seemed enough for Hoager. He settled back down. "GO" The whole world was struggling to keep up with Leslie. She made it past all the younger boys. _Wow, that kid sure is fast... _She passed the bully, Hoager, then was at a tie with the shy kid. He had no chance against her long, even strides; she passed him by about two feet. Leslie turned around to watch as all the boys stopped and fell to the ground, huffing and puffing. She bent down and talked to the boy, "Hey, it's Jess, right?" A little girl about three years younger than herself had settled herself beside Jess. The girl looked at Leslie scornfully, and she helped Jess up. They walked away. _What did I do?_


	3. SCUBA

_AN: It took awhile, but this one is quite a bit longer, and it took some more thought than the others because it has to reflect a time where we're being shown Jess' life, and Leslie is not in any part of it at the moment. I can't quote her essay exactly,m because I unfortunately do not own BtT on DVD! I also used the abbreviation for the chapter title because **Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus **would not fit! I want to give credit for Inkspell, which is written by one of my favourite authors, Corneila Funke. Please Review! _

_-Breezy._

**Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus**

Leslie walked a few steps behind Jess as he walked toward the line of old battered school buses. She was sure he had seen her a couple of times, but he didn't say anything. Leslie wanted to apologize for beating the boys. Apologize for running. Apologize for even coming to Lark Creek. She hated the place. From the small cramped classrooms, to the smelly old bathrooms, she thought it was a horrible place to learn. _All the boys hate me, and I've got _nothing_ in common with the girls. I don't like to talk about boys or make-up... _Her only chance was Jess. His eyes seemed to say; You may have beaten me earlier, but that doesn't mean I hate you. Jess got on a bus, and Leslie looked down at the faded number she had written on her hand earlier. The 668 was just barely visible. She had lost track of which bus Jess had gotten on. _Oh well_, she thought, _there's always tomorrow_, before ducking into the right bus. she sat down in the front, because she didn't know anyone. Leslie pulled out Inkspell. Leslie loved it. She always became entranced by Meggie's power of reading people and objects in and out of books. She became enthralled once more. So enthralled in fact, that when her stop came, she nearly missed it. Just as the bus began to move again, she jumped up and exclaimed, "This is my stop... Sorry," she added quietly.

"Ok," the bus driver replied gruffly. Leslie put Inkspell back into her bag and hopped down the bus steps. She was shocked to see as just as surprised Jess staring back, wide eyed at her. "Are you following me?!" _What a stupid question,_ Leslie thought. "Uh. No. I live over there," she explained, pointing to her 'new' house. "Got any sisters?" the little girl asked. Leslie shook her head, "No. Just me." The girl looked crestfallen, "Got any Barbies?"

"Yeah. I might have a few."

"I have one... And a half."

"One and a half?!" Leslie asked, now interested.

"One got cut in half playing super extreme Barbie. You throw them out the upstairs window, flush the toilet with them in it, things like that. It's really fun!"

"Sounds like fun," Leslie said looking at Jess, her eyes asking, _Is she always like this?_

"Hey Leslie!" a man called out, walking towards the three children.

"Oh, hi Bill," she replied, "that's my dad," she said to Jess and May-Belle, who were looking confused at her calling him by his first name.

"I've gotta pick up some supplies, wanna come?"

"Okay! See you later," Leslie told Jess, after all, she would, they were neighbours, and they were in the same class at school, of course she would! Leslie got in the car plopped her bag down beside her, and did up her seatbelt, Bill did the same. For Leslie, it was pure habit, but for Bill, who was from the country as he was growing up, almost never put his seatbelt on, even after almost twelve years of living in the big city of Arlington. "Bill, I'm amazed!" Leslie said teasingly, "you remembered!" The two smiled at each other.

"So, was school as bad as you thought it was going to be Leslie?" Bill asked.

"Yes. Well, not really. No. But I beat all the boys in a race today-"

"Congratulations!" he exclaimed, cutting her off.

"It's not a good thing! They all hate me know, at least, _almost._ I don't think Jess hates me."

"Is that the boy you were talking to earlier?" Bill asked, looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, it was." They had reached the hardware store and it was time to get out. They parked, and walked to the store, Bill teasing Leslie about her _boyfriend_. _As if he's my boyfriend, I mean, I barely know him, in fact, I _don't_ know him!_

On the way back to Lark Creek, Leslie said nothing about Jess, but rather, she had talked about the one page essay on her favourite hobby she was to complete for Monday. "Why don't you do reading?" Bill suggested. "Well, no," Leslie said, "they already know I love to read. I completely dumped my bag today, but by accident!" she added, seeing the look on her father's face. "I think I'll do something different, and interesting, like...," she thought for a moment, "Scuba Diving!" Bill's face lit up at this, "Yeah! You can write about so much with Scuba Diving!" Bill looked at Leslie thoughtfully, "But have you ever _gone_ Scuba Diving?" he asked with a smirk.

"No. They don't have to know that... Necessarily,"she said carefully, "I wouldn't be lying, I'd be making it up. It's different."

"Hi Bill! Hi Leslie!" Judy, Leslie's mother, called through the partially opened windows of their little car. "Hi Judy! How's the kitchen coming along?"

"Oh, it's along all right. A long job!" Judy said, grabbing Leslie's bag.

"Uh. No it's okay _Mom_," Leslie said grabbing it herself.

"Hey, young lady, don't give me mouth! What's going on?"

"I'm just thinking, never mind. But can I go do my homework now?" With that, she left Bill and Judy in silence. You could hear Leslie plunking up the stairs and sitting down at her desk. She dropped her bag and put her head in her hands. She had nothing. No friends, no books yet, for her parents hadn't found that particular box yet, and she had nowhere to go. All she had was running. The skill that had made it impossible for her to be accepted at school now. And writing. She had that. But writing was the very thing that had brought her here. Her parents were writers, very successful writers at that. They had probably published more than thirty books combined, but that was the problem. With success comes money, and with money comes greed and with greed comes arguments. Bill and Judy sat down one evening in Arlington, thinking Leslie was asleep, when in fact, she was not, and talked about moving away from the city, and away from the need of money. Leslie heard it all, from leaving Arlington, all the way to writing less books. Leslie prided herself in knowing that her parents wrote and wrote well. Leslie sat there for a very, very long time. Almost two hours. Leslie began to write about Scuba Diving, yanking herself away from the memories. "I am moving gently forward, over the wild and unexplored world below me. I am floating in silence, and breaking it up with the sound of my breath..." She truly was floating in silence. The world around her seemed to vaporize, making it impossible to hear anything, except her own breath. She fell asleep under the spell of her own writing, and unknown magic within her soul surfacing for the very first time.


End file.
